All there is to sip and savor in New Orleans

Doing Festivals Right: Tips for Festival Season

Tim McNally

David Mason, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival

The number of festivals staged around here has got to be staggering. There is not a weekend at any time of the year when a festival does not occur. No exaggeration. Well, maybe the weekend after or during Christmas, but even then there’s Christmas New Orleans Style, Celebration in the Oaks and the many events that were formerly known as a Creole Christmas.

No need to tell you what goes on right after Christmas with the New Year’s celebrations and the Sugar Bowl.

What sets our festivals apart from those staged just about every place else is the intense local participation at every event. We pretty much stage festivals for ourselves and then we are happy when the world shows up to assist in the party. Mardi Gras is a perfect example.

But just because we enjoy a lot of festivals, and attend them in large numbers, does not mean we are taking full advantage of the celebration opportunities they present. We often see visitors who, after two days, are ready to go home or just relax in the hotel room because they have had enough. We are just getting started. Our celebration stamina is because we stay in Mardi Gras mode pretty much year-round.

More than one visitor after a day or two of enjoying our hospitality has noted, “This town kicked my ass.” They usually say that to us as we are leaving the room ready to head for another day of great food, fun music and maybe a drink or two. Ha! “Maybe” has nothing to do with it.

I was reminded of our penchant to never miss a moment of every party by a friend in Dallas this past weekend where I attended the wine festival, Savor Dallas. On Saturday night at the Grand Tasting of this truly gala festival, my friend asked what other events we had attended. I reeled off a number of items. Okay, so we did not miss a thing. My friend asked how we do it all.

It was a cheap answer, but my response was, “practice, practice, practice.”

Here again, a literary festival in any other town would probably be more about, well, literature. There’s a lot of that with this festival, but there is also plenty of other diversions to keep a New Orleanian quite satisfied.

That is why it is so important for you festival maniacs to work from a plan. What’s the use of being at a festival enjoying yourself, then hearing later about some amazing activity that you knew nothing about? It’s happened so often to me that I have quit kicking myself. The bruises never healed.

Anyway, as we begin another crazy festival season, here are random thoughts that may serve you well over the next few months.

Know Before You Go

Become familiar with what the festival stands for. Why be in the midst of an event that sounded good, but the purpose is of no interest to you? If you think the French Quarter Festival is about historic preservation and haunted tours, re-think that… Big time.

Particularly on festivals pointed to a specific topic, such as wine, spirits, food or culture, be certain you are interested in the topic, or at least curious.

Study the Festival Activities before You Sign Up

When you know the entire breadth of activities, seminars, tastings, music and food items, then you can head to the areas that interest you most. Shame to spend time at the meat pie vendor area when you are missing Miss Irma Thomas or Alan Toussaint. The food can wait.

You will want to be where you need to be when you need to be there. Everything at a festival is fleeting. Usually there are no second acts or even curtain calls. Entertainers finish their set. Wineries run out of the good stuff. Nothing waits for you.

Comfort, Comfort, Comfort

Get a good night's rest the night before. In Dallas, during Savor Dallas, we stayed in the Four Seasons Resort in Las Colinas. That place is the ultimate in luxury. During the festival, we were rested, content and knew that we were heading back to more great satisfaction after a day or night, or both, of big festival enjoyment. It made everything that much better.

Be certain you wear the proper clothes and, for goodness sake, wear appropriate footwear. Festivals are a lousy time to be breaking in new shoes or fussing with clothes. From what I have observed at many festivals, no one is going to notice your outerwear anyway. You may as well be as comfortable as the law allows.

Always Have a Plan B

When matters are not going as planned, go to another plan. Maybe you don’t need all the time you originally allotted, or you determine that the act you really wanted to experience is not at top form, move on.

Most festivals are manic. The organizers are intent on doing something for everyone. And not all items on the schedule turn out the way you had hoped. Don’t waste your time. Get on to something else.

Keep the Number of People in Your Group to a Minimum

Being with friends is very cool. Trying to herd cats in a crowd is not. I can’t tell you how many cell phone conversations I have been privy to while some big-name act is on the stage at Jazz Fest. Makes you wonder, “Did you come to enjoy Dylan or just be a tour guide?”

Don't Leave Your Common Sense at the Gate

If you drink sweet drinks in the sun in great quantity, what’s going to happen to you? If you are outdoors without sunscreen, what’s going to happen to you? If you eat crazy foods with heavy sauces, when you never do in real life, what’s going to happen to you? If you don’t keep yourself hydrated with water, what’s going to happen to you particularly when you are gulping down alcoholic beverages like they are made of water?

For each of those questions, there is an individual answer applicable to you only. Be honest. And act accordingly. Don’t make me call your mother.

Festivals of all types are just about the most fun many adults have when the sun is out, or, for some, even at night. Getting more from the experience means at least a little advance homework.

Of course, I have friends who go to Europe and all they know is that it’s east of here, maybe. No prep works seems to be their, and others, mantra. It works for them. But I still think they are missing something by not being ready or informed.

Enjoy Festival Season. It’s a crazy time. Of course that’s true about every other time for this town.

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All there is to sip and savor in New Orleans

about

In New Orleans, when the subject is wine and spirits, it is very difficult to leave Tim McNally out of the discussion. He is considered one of the “go to” resources in the Crescent City for counsel and information about adult beverages and their place in the fabric of life in this great city.

Tim is the Wine and Spirits Editor, columnist and feature writer for New Orleans Magazine; the Wine and Spirits Editor and weekly columnist, Happy Hour, for www.MyNewOrleans.com; the Executive Editor and monthly features writer for Gulf Coast Wine + Dine Online; creator and editor of his own website, www.winetalknola.com; all in addition to his daily hosting duties on the radio program, The Dine, Wine and Spirits Show, on the air at WGSO – 990AM, every weekday, 3- 5 p.m, and streamed live on www.wgso.com.

Over the years, Tim has proved to be an informed interviewer, putting his guests at ease, and covering tactile and technical information so that even a novice can understand difficult agricultural and production concepts. Tim speaks with winemakers, wine and spirit ambassadors, distillers, authors, people who stage events and festivals, and takes questions from listeners and readers, all seamlessly blended together in a program that is unique in America.

Tim’s love of wine actually came about many years ago from his then wife-to-be, Brenda Maitland, a noted journalist in her own right, and together they have traveled to the major wine producing areas in the US and Europe, seeking first-hand information about beverages that give us all so much pleasure.

They were instrumental in the founding of the New Orleans Wine and Food Experience, a major national and international well-regarded festival of its type. They both continue to be involved with the planning and staging of this multi-venue, five-day event now over twenty years old.

Tim is also considered one of the foremost professional wine judges in the US, being invited to judge more than 11 wine competitions each year, including the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition (the largest competition of American wines in the world, with more than 6,000 entries), the Riverside, CA International Wine Competition, San Francisco International Wine Competition, Atlantic Seaboard Wine Competition, Indiana International Wine Competition, Sandestin, Florida Wine Festival Competition, the State of Michigan Wine Competition, the U.S. National Wine Competition, and the National Wine Competition of Portugal.

Tim is a guest lecturer to many local wine and dine organizations, and speaks each year to the senior class in the School of Hotel and Restaurant Management at Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama.

Staying abreast of the news of the wine and spirits world is a passion for Tim, and he is committed to sharing what he knows with his listeners and readers. “Doing something I love, with products that I truly enjoy, created by interesting people, coupling the experience with culinary excellence, and doing it all in the greatest city in America,” are the words Tim lives by.